Is that a real poster? If it is, it may be the worst poster ever generated by a Hollywood studio for a credible film. It looks like a festival press kit for one of those zero budget independents that never gets distributed. Is there a law that says every movie about a journalist must use the courier typewriter font for its poster and/or credits?

bachelorcool

So this is the story of a guy who got decapitated, and they replicate that in the poster by putting Anjelina Jolie where his head would have been?

Monument

“Is there a law that says every movie about a journalist must use the courier typewriter font for its poster and/or credits?”

What’s the market for this movie? Is there any imaginable way this even approaches $20 million at the box office?

JD

That would be about $19 million more than any other Michael Winterbottom movie has made. But I don’t think anyone’s making this movie for the money, Josh. If it breaks even — it didn’t cost much to make — and gets some good reviews, I’m sure everyone will be pleased. After coasting on dud-after-dud, Angelina Jolie could certainly use a respectable film on her filmography.

James Leer

If it doesn’t, Lord knows it never should have been made!

ROTC

I have no idea whether or not this is a good film, but it sure screams “Oscar Bait.” So why on earth is it being released during the escapist summer onslaught? I guess the studios haven’t yet learned that this kind of summertime counter-programming almost never succeeds – and that the movie’s awards prospects will likely suffer when year-end nominations are announced.

ROTC

Also, every single time I see the horrendous title, I confuse it with the Christopher Guest ensemble’s “A Mighty Wind.”

jeffmcm

ROTC, I think that there have been plenty of counter-programming successes. Plus there’s the idea that if thismovie was released during awards season it might get swallowed in the glut of all the other awards-season movies that get released in that one-month span.

D.Z.

JD: “But I don’t think anyone’s making this movie for the money, Josh.”

United 93 grossed $76m worldwide on a budget of around $15m. I would love it if I had made a movie that tanked that badly (plus it was excellent).

D.Z.

Yeah, but it was supposed to make that kind of money here, not there.

jeffmcm

So?

D.Z.

So it’s still a disappointment.

ROTC

“I think that there have been plenty of counter-programming successes.” Like what? Outside of the occasional straight romance, rom-com or low-budget comedy that breaks through, when has a movie as depressingly serious as this fared well in the current summer theatrical culture?

“…if thismovie was released during awards season it might get swallowed in the glut of all the other awards-season movies that get released in that one-month span.” So why not release it in August or September, right after all the summer blockbusters, instead of smack-dab in the middle?

Keep in mind that virtually none of Jolie’s dramas have made money. Jolie remains infinitely more of a tabloid superstar than a box-office one.

jeffmcm

“So it’s still a disappointment.”

No it’s not. It did as well as a grim, ultra-serious movie about a topic that most people would prefer to avoid thinking about, with no stars, possibly could (and it’s an excellent film).

Plus it did better than…oh wait, I can’t compare it to some film that DZ liked, because DZ doesn’t actually like films, preferring to define himself only by those films/filmmakers/political figures that he hates.

D.Z.

It did better than Apocalypto, but that’s not saying a lot, since both films left theaters pretty fast.

Ju-osh

Back to the poster:

Is the white half supposed to represent Jolie’s skin color and the black half Mariane Pearl’s?

Or is it just a good/evil, reporter/terrorist thing?

(Al Jolson won an Oscar doing blackface, too, didn’t he?)

jeffmcm

Apocalypto grossed $118m worldwide. 118 > 76.

Wrong again.

The white half is the good times (writing on a typewriter) and the black half is the bad times (being kidnapped and murdered).

Al Jolson never won an Oscar, but Larry Parks got an Oscar nomination for playing him in The Jolson Story.

Imagine my embarrassment over the fact that my first thought besides “Meh, I don’t need to see this movie” was “Hmm, kind of a cool poster though” only to have my bubble burst by JDs very first comment! The question now is, do I pretend it never happened or do I admit it and click “post”?

Imagine my embarrassment over the fact that my first thought besides “Meh, I don’t need to see this movie” was “Hmm, kind of a cool poster though” only to have my bubble burst by JDs very first comment! The question now is, do I pretend it never happened or do I admit it and click “post”?

What was your point again? These movies have nothing in common with each other.

D.Z.

No, my point is that they did about the same, in spite of them both being high-profile for the wrong reasons.

jeffmcm

One made $40m more than the other. Those aren’t ‘about the same’. Apocalypto was high-profile because of Gibson and because of its unusual setting. U93 was noticed because of its subject matter and its exquisite execution. Those are good reasons to be high-profile.

So what’s your _real_ point?

D.Z.

One cost $40 million more, but both grossed about the same. And both were quickly forgotten, which is what I imagine would happen with A Mighty Heart.

“I’m aware of the fact that if there’s a plane in the sky and it’s over Manhattan and it’s close to the anniversary of Sept. 11 it’s a connection people might make,” she said. “I wanted to wait long enough after the anniversary that people wouldn’t make that connections but I can see how they could.” MTS変換 Plans for the skywriting were announced ahead of time , with Beck encouraging witnesses to email her photos. She was inspired by the “Surrender Dorothy” skywritten message in “The Wizard of Oz.” MTS変換Mac